Action Alert:
DARK Act - HR 1599U.S. House of Representatives Seeks to Prohibit Labeling of GMOsMaine's landmark legislation, An Act To Protect Maine Food Consumers' Right To Know about Genetically Engineered Food, could be eliminated if HR 1599 were to pass.More information

To maximize our relevance and effectiveness in a time of changing food systems and changing attitudes, we invite you to participate in one or more meetings, held from August 3 to 6, at the Good Will-Hinckley School in Fairfield, Maine.

Know Your Organic Producers!Meet Gregory Bertoni and Kelsey Woods of A Good Start in Old Orchard Beach, a MOFGA-certified organic farm that produces seedlings. They sell at the Saco River Market. Keep up with A Good Start on Facebook.Please support MOFGA certified organic producers!

Fall a busy time preparing for next year’s gardenBangor Daily News - 9/11/2010.By Reeser Manley – My favorite time of year has arrived. At the end of the workweek, after days of classroom confinement and evenings spent in front of a computer screen, I can spend blue-sky Saturdays helping Marjorie prepare the garden for winter.

Sticky solution: Vermonters pan ‘all natural’ syrupPortland Press Herald - 9/10/2010.By Lisa Rathke – Montpelier, Vt.: A new Log Cabin syrup touted as "all natural" looks a lot like the pure, 100 percent maple product that's the pride of Vermont, right down to its packaging in a plastic beige jug. But Vermont officials, seeking to protect the state's signature commodity, contend that Log Cabin All Natural Syrup is not what it seems, enticing consumers into dousing their pancakes with ingredients that include caramel color, xanthan gum and a paltry 4 percent maple.

Drought tolerance critical, say DuPont and Monsanto. We couldn’t agree more.Rodale Institute - 9/9/2010.By Amanda Kimble-Evans – The Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial has been tracking the performance of organically managed fields and conventionally managed fields for the last 30 years. The yield results dispute the oft-cited misconception that organic farming uses more resources to produce less food. And, the resilience of the organically-managed fields in drought years is incredible.

Our energy-gulping industrial food system revealedGrist - 9/9/2010.By Tom Philpott – In his recent The New York Times op-ed, "Math Lessons for Locavores," Stephen Budiansky shows that transportation and "modern" (i.e., highly mechanized and chemical-intesnsive) farming make up relatively small parts of industrial food's energy footprint. Consumers in their kitchens, in Budiansky's view, are the real energy guzzlers – so locavores should stop worrying and learn to love industrial food.

Regional School Unit (RSU) 1 L.O.C.A.L. Garden in Bath. Offered by Sagadahoc Chapter of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners with the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust (KELT). Space is limited so RSVP by email to: joe.kim.sean@gmail.com. For more information, visit KELT at www.kennebecestuary.org or contact Sue West at swest@chewonki.org.